Pin turning tool kit

Abstract

An improved piano tuning lever includes a handle with a loop or ring large enough to fit the fingers of a user's hand, thereby providing a grip around the perimeter of the loop or ring which is independent of the axis of the handle. The resulting grip affords improved ergonomics and may lessen stress in the user's wrist and hand when having to conform to various angles of the handle axis as the tuning lever is moved from tuning pin to tuning pin over the course of a piano tuning. The improved handle and loop or ring may be made any size or shape, symmetrical or asymmetrical and with its core being solid, hollow, or filled. Another embodiment of the piano tuning lever includes a spline designed to mate with an inventive piano tuning lever head having complementary splines.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This US non-provisional utility application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. provisional application 63 / 012,012 “Pin Turning Tool Kit,” filed 17 Apr. 2020. The entire contents of U.S. provisional application 63 / 012,012 “Pin Turning Tool Kit,” filed 17 Apr. 2020 are hereby incorporated into this document by reference.COPYRIGHT STATEMENT[0002]A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.FIELD[0003]The invention relates to hand-held and hand-operated tools for gripping upon and turning pins while tuning pianos and other musical instruments or devices having tension-adjustable strings wherein at least one string end is wound...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]A primary objective of the invention is to provide a tool for tuning stringed musical instruments with an ergonomically designed handle for grasping by hand so that torque may be delivered to a tuning pin without having to contort one's hand, wrist, arm, or shoulder into awkward and uncomfortable positions which result when using a tuning lever with just a simple lever design.

[0009]Another objective of the invention is to provide a tool handle with a loop for grasping anywhere around its perimeter, with the plane of the loop being rotatably adjustable around the centerline of the axis of the stem relative to the plane of the head component and tip assembly as it extends from the centerline of the stem axis of the handle. The result of this objective is to give the user the ability to control the orientation of the handle loop to maximize its ease of use while minimizing stress and strain. Thus, by using the invention, the wrist gripping the handle remains within a comfortable, non-injurious range even while the axis of the stem portion of the handle might be at an angle no one could grip comfortably while attempting to exert substantial twisting forces on a tuning pin, and a user gipping and twisting at such an extreme angle would likely incur pain and discomfort and also risk repetitive stress injury. This ability is especially advantageous when one considers the differences between tuning uprights, or vertically strung pianos, and grands, or horizontally strung pianos.

Problems solved by technology

Thus, by using the invention, the wrist gripping the handle remains within a comfortable, non-injurious range even while the axis of the stem portion of the handle might be at an angle no one could grip comfortably while attempting to exert substantial twisting forces on a tuning pin, and a user gipping and twisting at such an extreme angle would likely incur pain and discomfort and also risk repetitive stress injury.

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